Adjustment for door-controlling means.



H. G. VOIGHT.

ADJUSTMENT FOR DOOR CONTROLLING MEANS.

' APPLICATION FILED own, 1912 1,070,368. Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

\ Illllli UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

HENRY G. VOIGHT, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

ADJUSTMENT FOR NOOR-CONTROLLING MEANS.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY G. VOIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Britain, county of Hartford, State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustments for Door-Controlling Means, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to controlling means for sliding doors in which atoggle is employed connecting the door to its casing or to a stationaryabutment, which toggle must be of a definite length in order to be mosteffective.

It is my object to provide door cont-rolling means of this characterwith an adjustment for the toggle whereby the same may be adjusted to anicety in compensation for errors in manufacture and also in case ofappreciable wear. Indeed, by my invention, the necessity for suchabsolute accuracy in measurements is obviated.

For the purposes of illustration I will describe and illustrate theapplication of the invention to the specific door controlling means ofmy Patent No. 1,041,706, dated October 15, 1912.

The adjustment means forming the subject matter of the present inventionis more fully described in the detailed specification following and isillustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part thereof andshowing a preferable embodiment of such adjusting means.

In these drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary view in elevationillustrating the adjustment means used in connection with a specificform of door controlling means employing a toggle. Fig. 2 is a top planview illustrating the adjustable pivot connection of the toggle levers.Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 2. Fig. A is adetail View illustrating in front elevation and longitudinal section,the construction of the outer face of the for ward toggle lever. Fig. 5is an enlarged detail view of the forward end of the rear toggle lever.Fig. 6 is a detail view in front and end elevations of a clamping plate.Fig. 7 is a detail view in front elevation and top plan of a clampingwasher. F ig 8 1s a detail view in side and end elevation of the pivotstud. I

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 1 designates the forward edge ofa sliding door and 2 the rear edge of the cooperating Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Aug. 12,1913.

Application filed October 21, 1912. Serial No. 726,925.

door casing. A lever member 3 formed of coniplemental spaced bars 3 ispivoted at its forward end to the forward edge ofthe door 1. A secondlever member 41 formed preferably of complemental joined bars 1 ispivote to the rear edge of the door casing. Extending transversely ofthis second lever member 1 adjacent its rear pivoted end is a transversearm 6. A power cylinder 7 is pivotally mounted at its lower end on thebracket 5 and has its piston 8 journaled in the lower end of thetransverse arm 6, the power in the cylinder 7 normally tending to pullthe piston rod 8 downwardly thereby pulling the lever member 1downwardly with it. An operating handle 9 is pivotally mounted at 10upon the forward edge of the sliding door 1. An arm 11 is pivotallymounted at 12 upon the forward edge of said door at a point below thepivot point 10 of the operating handle, and is provided with a curvedslot 13 therein. A stud 11 carried by the bars 3 of the lever member 3,engages said arm 11 and rides in its slot 13, which slot owing to itscurvature, acts as a cam to raise lever member 3, when said arm ismoved. The arm 11 is provided, adjacent its pivoted end, with a curvedslot 15 therein, describing an arc with the pivot point 12 as a centerand a stud 16 carried by the operating handle 9 rides in this slot andis adapted, when the handle is moved to the right from the positionshown in Fig.

1, to move arm 11 and thereby raise lever member 3 through the camaction of slot 13 on stud 14. The lever members 3 and A have their rearand forward ends respectively, pivotally connected so that the force ofthe power cylinder 7 will act through its piston rod 8 arm 6 and levermember 4, to move the sliding door 1 forwardly to closedposition,straightening out the toggle formed by the lever members 3 and 1, as thedoor reaches closed position, so that these lever members are inhorizontal alinement with their connecting pivot on a dead center withthese lever members. This, when the lever components are properlyproportioned, will afford a dead center lock against accidental dooropening movement on the part of these levers. The door may be opened bymoving the operating handle to the right from the position shown in Fig.1, this movement causing the arm 11, through its cam slot 13, to raiselever member 3 and break the toggle lock, this movement being permittedby reason of the fact that a limited free movement of the handle 9independent of the door is possible. At the end of this limited freemovement, the toggle lock will have been broken and the handle 9 willstrike against an abutment stud 17 so that a further pull on the handle9 in the same direction will move the door itself to open positionagainst the force of the power cylinder 7.

I do not claim herein the specific form of operating means and togglelever connection, described, as this forms the subject matter of myPatent No. 1,0et1,706, dated October 15, 1912 the present inventionconsisting in the application in combination with operating means ofthis general character, of the toggle lever adjustment means which willnow be described in detail.

This adjustment of the toggle to secure the definite lever componentsrequisite to siu-cessful operation, is, in the present instance,accomplished by providing an ad justable pivot connection between thetwo lever members forming the toggle. To this end I provide a pivot stud18 having an enlarged hub portion 19 formed thereon inter- ,mediate itsends. The forward ends of the bars e of the lever member f are adaptedto be jOlll'llttlQCl on this hub portion, these bars being provided withalined apertures 20 thcrethrough. The hub portion 19 is of greaterthickness than these joined bars 41- so that it will project slightlybeyond the opposite faces of the joined bars (see Fig. 2). The shank ofthe pivot stud 18 on either side of the hub portion 1.9, is screwthreaded as at 21 and 22 respectively, the shank portion 22 beingpreferably of somewhat greater length than the shank portion 21. Thepivot stud at the end of the single portion 22 is provided with a slot23 to receive the head of a screw driver or other suitable tool. Each ofthe bars 3 forming the lever member 8, adjacent their rear ends areprovided with alined elongated slots 2% through which the shank ends ofthe pivot stud 18 extend to project beyond the outer faces of said bars.The forward apertured end of the joined bars 4? is brought between therear ends of the forward lever bars 3, so that the apertures 20 and theslots 24 are in alinement. The pivot stud 18 is then inserted throughthe alined apertures so that its hub portion 19 is seated within theapertures 20 of the joined bars with the end faces of said hub portionprojecting slightly beyond the outer faces of these bars and abuttingagainst the inner faces of the spaced bars 3. A detachable clampingplate 25 rests against the rear face of the rear bar and is providedwith a boss and with a threaded aperture 27 extending throiilgh saidplate and boss, this threaded aperture being engaged by the threadedshank 21 of the pivot stud, and

being drawn against the rear face of the rear bar 8 when said pivot studis rotated by; a screw driver or other suitable tool. The front face ofthe front bar 3" is provided with a series of transverse corrugations 28surrounding and extending beyond the elongated slot 24: therein. Awasher 29 provided on its rear face with similar corrugations 30, iscentrally apertured to fit over the threaded shank 22 of the pivot studto engage the cmrugations 28. it nut 31 is then screwed up on thethreaded shank end to clamp this washer against the outer face of theouter bar 3, the pivot stud being held. stationary of ctmrse while thenut is being screwed up. Owing to the fact that the end faces of the hub19 extend beyond the outer faces of the joined bars l, the bars 3 arespaced slightly from the bars P which, therefore, may be turned on thehub 19 and are not clamped against movement by the clamping engagementof the plate 25 and washer 29. As the bars are clamped against the endfaces of the hub 19 by the means described, the hub 19 is of course,held stationary.

It will be seen that by reason of the structure described, the point ofpivotal connection between the front lever member 3 and rear levermember a may be moved to meet the exigencies of the particular case andthe clamping plate 25 and washer 29 moved into clamping engagement withthe bars 3 to fixedly maintain the pivot point as moved and adjusted.The length of the elongated slots 24. will be such of course, as toprovide plenty of adjustment in both directions. Also while the levermember at has been shown and described as being comprised of joined bars41-, it is obvious that it may be formed of a single bar of suflicientthickness and strength to meet the service conditions of the particularcase, the width of the hub member 19 being of course modified to suitthe thickness of the particular lever bar t which is employed.

In the preferred construction the arm 3 is preferably somewhat longerthan the arm t, which is common practice, and is disclosed in my formerpatent above referred to. In the preferred construction, also I providethe adjustment slot in the longer arm 3 so that. when the device isadjusted to meet the different conditions encountered in the installation of the apparatus in different buildings where conditionsalmost al 'ays vary the change in the pivot point will occur withreference to the length of the longer arm 3, it being always preferableto have the arm a never of greater length than the arm 3, and ordinarilyof less length because as is well known if the arm a, to which thecloser mechanism 7 is attached is unduly long it may permit the otherarm to rise to such a steep angle as to impair the operator of theelevator to swing up the arm 3 in the act of opening the door. The bestresults, therefore, can be obtained by providing the slots 24 in thelonger arm 3.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that I have provided incombination with a door controlling mechanism of the general characterillustrated, means for varying and adjusting the components of thetoggle to secure the most eifective operation of a device of thischaracter.

lVhile I have herein described and shown a specific embodiment of theinvention and illustrated it as applied to a particular type of doorcontrolling means, I desire it understood that the invention is notlimited to this specific combination, but that the specific structureemployed may be modified within the spirit of the invention and thescope of the appended claims.

lVhat I claim is:

1. Connecting means for use between sliding closures and relativelystationary abutments, embodying ,a toggle comprising two pivotallyinterconnected bars, and means for varying the over-all length of saidbars, at the point of pivotal connection of one bar relative to theother.

2. Connecting means for use between sliding closures and relativelystationary abutments embodying a toggle of two pivotally interconnectedbars, one of said bars being provided with a pivot stud adjustablelongitudinally thereof, and the other of said bars being journaled onsaid stud.

3. Connecting means for use between sliding closures and relativelystationary abutments embodying a toggle comprising two pivotallyconnected levers, one of said levers having an'elongated slot therein, apivot stud insert-ible through said slot and adjustable longitudinallythereof, the other of said levers being journaled on said pivot stud.

4:. Connecting means for use between sliding closures and relativelystationary abutments, embodying a toggle, said toggle comprising a leverhaving complemental spaced arms provided with elongated alined slotstherein, a pivot stud carried by said complemental arms and extendingthrough the slots therein, a second lever having its end extendingbetween said spaced arms and journaled on said pivot stud, and means forvarying the position of said stud in said elongated slots and forclamping said stud rigidly to said spaced arms whereby the range ofmovement of said toggle may be varied.

5. Connecting means for use between slid-- ing closures and relativelystationary abutments, embodying a toggle, said toggle comprising a levermember having complemental spaced arms provided with elongated alinedslots therein, a stud carried by said arms extending through the slotstherein and having a hub formed thereon between said arms, a'secondlever having its end extending between said spaced bars and journaled onsaid hub, and means whereby the relative position of said stud in saidelongated slots may be varied and whereby said spaced bars may beclamped against said hub to hold said stud rigid relative thereto.

HENRY Gr. VOIGHT.

Witnesses GWENDOLINE A. J AOKSON, CHARLES E. RUssELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Iateuts, Washington, D. G.

